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Elizabeth Madge
Elizabeth Madge (1966-) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2000 (succeeding Irene Cowsill and preceding Edith Birch) and in 2001 (succeeding Birch and preceding Doris Flowers). Biography Elizabeth Madge was born in Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear, England in 1966 to a family of working-class factory workers. Madge worked as a union representative before entering politics with the Labour Party, and she was elected MP for Tynemouth in 1997. In 1999, she was selected as Labour's new leader to succeed the term-limited Cowsill, and she led her party to maintain its three-seat majority in the House of Commons, albeit dropping to 25.95% of the vote and 8 seats; this placed them slightly ahead of the Conservative Party and its 17.91%. Madge received the mandate of Prime Minister in a 16-13 vote, narrowly defeating Conservative leader Edith Birch. Premiership On New Year's Eve of 1999, a terrorist attack struck Britain. Under Madge, the Parliament voted 17-6 to keep the land tax, 19-4 to reinstate agricultural research, and 18-5 to keep public housing. By this point, however, the economy had continued to fall into a downward spiral. Parliament voted 14-9 to abolish the EU in order to cut expenses, but they failed to achieve a quorum, and thus the bill failed. The Conservatives and Lib Dems failed to abolish retirement homes in a 15-9 vote, and the economy dropped to double-digits a week later. Parliament then voted 13-9 to implement a school bus tax, 11-10 against legalizing prostitution, 21-4 in favor of an income tax, and 21-2 to lower the voting age to 16. The ensuing election of mid-2000 saw Labour fall to 24.89% and 7 seats, the Tories fall to 17.51% and 5 seats, PC rise to 15.03% and 5 seats, the Lib Dems rise to 12.67% and 4 seats, the GPEW rise to 10.87% and 3 seats, the DUP fall to 9.63% and 3 seats, the SNP rise to 6.12% and 2 seats, and UKIP rise to 3.28% and 1 seat. In the ensuing leadership election, the country lost confidence in Madge, who had presided over the fall of the country's economy into the negatives. Birch won 16 votes to Madge's 8, making her the first Conservative Prime Minister in five elections. Return to power In 2001, however, Madge returned to power with 16 of Parliament's votes to Birch's 11, as the center-left majority in Parliament had decided to return one of its own to power. Parliament voted 24-0 in favor of creating a national ambulance service, 11-9 to abolish the land tax, 13-9 to approve a child benefit, and 13-8 against a public smoking ban. In the ensuing November 2001 election, Labour rose to 22.69% and 7 seats, the Tories rose to 20.45% and 6 seats, PC fell to 13.67% and 4 seats, the Lib Dems fell to 13.58% and 4 seats, the GPEW fell to 12.02% and 3 seats, the DUP rose to 9.27% and 3 seats, the SNP fell to 5.42% and 2 seats, and UKIP fell to 2.9% and 1 seat. The ensuing leadership election saw Doris Flowers be elected Prime Minister in a 14-12 vote. Category:1966 births Category:British politicians Category:British Category:Politicians Category:English Category:Agnostics Category:Labour Party members Category:British social democrats Category:Social democrats Category:British prime ministers Category:Prime ministers